North Union homecoming theme shows spirit, pride

September 26, 2012

"Out with the old, in with the NU." That's the homecoming theme for North Union students this week.

It's an excellent theme, one that shows a great deal of wisdom from people their age.

As little as three years ago, the very idea of whole-grade sharing occurring among Armstrong-Ringsted, North Kossuth and Sentral school districts was considered an impossibility. But after many long hours and a lot of hard work by all three school boards - and a lot of compromises - it happened starting this school year.

One of the biggest holdbacks was the pride that each of the three school districts had for their respective schools. Ordinarily, pride is a good thing. However, sometimes pride can get in the way of getting things done.

That all started to change, though, when the three districts began sports sharing a year and a half ago. Some people may have questioned the reason for sharing sports before academics, as though the presumption was that sports were more important. However, in retrospect, that was a wise decision. By sharing sports first, the ice was broken, allowing whole-grade sharing to follow.

And it's working.

Last spring, students from all three districts put their heads together and came up with the concept of the North Union Warriors. It's a great name and a great mascot, one that won't draw the wrathful ire of the PC police who walked all over the First Amendment by telling the University of North Dakota it had to drop the name Fighting Sioux.

"In with the NU" as a homecoming theme shows solidarity, pride, a sense of purpose and renewed vigor and growth. Rather than causing divisions, students have decided that, together, North Union is going to have every bit as much school pride and spirit as Armstrong-Ringsted, North Kossuth and Sentral did before - and then some.